Connectors are used in various applications for connecting electrical components to submit electrical energy or data between these components. Such connectors can be used to connect different electric apparatuses mutually as stand-alone units, to connect each of these stand-alone units with a power grid for power supply or to provide a connection between such units to form a network for data exchange.
To provide a realiable electric connection even under heavy duty conditions, the electrical contacts may be comprised within a connector body that protects the damageable tips of the electrical contacts. This is especially the case with connectors for providing a data exchange connection, which may comprise a large number of electrical contacts that can easily be damaged when the different connector parts are plugged together. Usually, such a connector can be provided as a male connector comprising a connector body, which is provided to be inserted into a second connector body of a female connector, or as a respective female connector provided with a reception to receive another connector body of a male connector.
As stated above, it is advantageous to arrange the electrical contacts inside the respective male and female connectors such that their tips are protected from being damaged. For example, documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,361 discloses a connector arrangement comprising two connector parts, the male connector body comprising a central plug portion with the electric contacts being arranged to both sides of the plug portion. On the contrary, the female connector part comprises a socket portion to receive the plug portion, the electrical contacts of the female connector body being arranged on the side walls on the inside of the socket portion. When both connector parts are plugged together, the electrical contacts engage each other by sliding along their respective surfaces. The connector of the above kind represents a universal connector for connecting different electric units for medical use, i.e. for establishing a data connection and power supply between different components of a system for monitoring vital functions of a patient. It is obvious that in this field of use, a high relability of the data connection has a high priority. The connector arrangement according to this document also comprises means for securing the two connector parts with each other.
Although the problem of establishing a reliable mechanical connection between the two connector bodies is satisfactory solved by this arrangement, there remains the problem of damaging the tips of the electrical contacts when the two connector parts are pushed together. A small disalignment of the tips of the contacts can be enough to cause an unwanted interference of the ends of the contacts so that they are distorted or the like. If one electrical contact of a first connector is damaged once, the damage can be spread by connecting this first connector to another connector, because the damaged contact can further damage other contacts in the respective complementary connector in another connector arrangement.